Calligraphy and Architecture in the Muslim World

Explores the myriad interactions between calligraphy and architecture throughout the history of the Muslim world

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From Spain to China, Islamic architecture and calligraphy are inexorably intertwined. Mosques, dervish lodges, mausolea, libraries, even baths and market places bear masterpieces of calligraphy that rival the most refined of books and scrolls.This major reference work focuses on architectural inscriptions through the Muslim world, from the emergence of Islam to the present day.

What were the purposes of these inscriptions?

How do they infuse buildings with culturally specific meanings, sacred or profane?

What do they add to architectural design?

What sorts of materials were used, and how do they interact with light and space?

Who were their patrons, and what do we know about the artists who produced them?

Find out with this exciting new collection edited by a stellar cast of international contributors.

Key Features

30 case studies explain different aspects and contexts of calligraphy in Islamic architecture

Contents

A: IntroductionB: Sites1. Inscribing the Square: The Inscriptions on the Maidān-i Shāh in Iṣfahān, Sheila S. Blair2. Speaking Architecture: Poetry and Aesthetics in the Alhambra Palace, José Miguel Puerta Vílchez3. The Arabic Calligraphy on the Ceiling of the Twelfth-Century Cappella Palatina in Palermo, Sicily: Function and Identity, Hashim Al-Tawil4. Wall-Less Walls: The Calligraphy at the Hadži Sinanova Tekija in Sarajevo, Snježana Buzov5. Survey – The Qur’ānic Inscriptions Monument From Jām, Afghanistan, Ulrike-Christiane LintzC: Style vs. Content6. Multi-Sensorial Messages of the Divine and the Personal: Qur’an Inscriptions and Recitation in Sixteenth-Century Ottoman Mosques in Istanbul, Nina Ergin7. The Revival of Kūfī Script During the Reign of Sultan Abdülhamid II, İrvin Cemil Schick8. Calligraphy in Chinese Mosques: At the Intersection of Arabic and Chinese Calligraphy, Barbara Stöcker-Parnian9. Qur’anic Verses on Works of Architecture: The Ottoman Case, Murat Sülün10. Reading Qājār Epigraphs: Case Studies from Shīrāz and Iṣfahān, Bavand BehpoorD: Patronage11. ‘The Pen Has Extolled Her Virtues’: Gender and Power within the Visual Legacy of Shajar al-Durr in Cairo, Caroline Olivia M. Wolf12. Sovereign Epigraphy in Location: Politics, Devotion and Legitimisation around the Quṭb Minār, Delhi, Johanna Blayac13. Archival Evidence on the Commissioning of Architectural Calligraphy in the Ottoman Empire, Talip Mert14. On the Renewal of the Calligraphy at the Mosque of the Prophet (al-Masjid al-Nabawī) under the Reign of Sultan Abdülmecid, Hilal Kazan15. Faṭimid Kūfī Epigraphy on the Gates of Cairo: Between Royal Patronage and Civil Utility, Bahia ShehabE: Artists16. An Art Ambassador: The Inscriptions of ‘Alī Reżā ‘Abbāsī, Saeid Khaghani17. Mustafa Râkım Efendi’s Architectural Calligraphy, Süleyman Berk18. Yesârîzâde Mustafa İzzet Efendi and his Contributions to Ottoman Architectural Calligraphy, M. Uğur Derman19. The Visual Interpretation of Nasta‘līq in Architecture: Mīrzā Gholām Reżā’s Monumental Inscriptions for the Sepahsālār Mosque in Tehran, Sina GoudarziF: Regional20. Ma‘qilī Inscriptions on the Great Mosque of Mardin: Stylistic and Epigraphic Contexts, Tehnyat Majeed21. The Composition of Kūfī Inscriptions in Transitional and Early-Islamic Architecture of North Khurasan, Nasiba S. Baimatowa22. Space and Calligraphy in the Chinese Mosque, Sadiq Javer23. Medium and Message in the Monumental Epigraphy of Medieval Cairo, Bernard O’Kane24. Allegiance, Praise and Space: Monumental Inscriptions in Thirteenth-Century Anatolia as Architectural Guides, Patricia Blessing25. Symmetrical Compositions in Pre-Ottoman and Ottoman Architectural Inscriptions in Asia Minor, Abdülhamit TüfekçioğluG: Modernity26. Writing Less, Saying More: Calligraphy and Modernisation in the Last Ottoman Century, Edhem Eldem27. The Absence and Emergence of Calligraphy in Najd: Calligraphy as a Modernist Component of Architecture in Riyadh, Sumayah Al-Solaiman28. Cairo to Canton and Back: Tradition in the Islamic Vernacular, Ann ShaferH: BibliographyI: List of FiguresJ: About the Contributors.

About the Author

Mohammad Gharipour is Associate Professor at the School of Architecture and Planning at Morgan State University in Baltimore, Maryland. He obtained his Master’s in Architecture from the University of Tehran and a Ph.D. in Architecture and Landscape History from Georgia Institute of Technology. He has received several awards such as the Hamad Bin Khalifa Fellowship in Islamic Art, the Spiro Kostof Fellowship Award from the Society of Architectural Historians and the National Endowment in Humanities Faculty Award. His books include Persian Gardens and Pavilions: Reflections in Poetry, Arts and History and Bazaar in the Islamic City and Calligraphy and Architecture in the Muslim World (co-edited with Irvin Schick). He is the director and founding editor of the International Journal of Islamic Architecture.

İrvin Cemil Schick is Assistant Professor in Cultural Studies at Istanbul Şehir University. İrvin Cemil Schick holds a PhD from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He has taught at Harvard University and MIT, and is currently at İstanbul Şehir University.

Reviews

The subject of calligraphy on monuments is extremely rich in terms of the varieties of approaches (palaeography, "iconography", meaning, sociology, and aesthetics, among others). This volume allows entry to many of these aspects. It also serves to illustrate the paradox of Islamic art: unity of the Arabic alphabet, and variety of local declinations.